Lantana Man Dies As Plane Crashes

November 24, 1985|By John Kennedy, Staff Writer

A veteran mechanic and pilot was killed on Saturday when his airplane`s newly installed engine began spewing smoke just before the craft plummeted into a marsh after take-off at Lantana Airport, officials said.

Robert Jessup, 51, of Lantana was killed when his North American T-28 plane apparently developed engine trouble, lost power and crashed just north of the airport runway, officials and witnesses said.

``It just didn`t seem to have enough power,`` said Ben Demonstranti of Juno Beach, who with Jessup was co-owner of the single-engine plane.

``There was black smoke coming out of the side of the engine,`` he said, visibly shaken after watching from the tarmac as the craft fell from the sky.

Jessup was the sole occupant of the plane. The craft went down an hour after a twin-engine plane crashed after taking off from Boca Raton Airport, killing all six people aboard.

Moments before the 9:15 a.m. crash in Lantana, Demonstranti and Jessup made final checks on the rebuilt engine the pair installed in the World War II vintage plane.

The morning flight was aimed at putting the engine through its paces, Demonstranti said.

``He was always so careful. With him, you always had to have everything right,`` Demonstranti said.

Witnesses said the plane was climbing slowly and failed to gain altitude when black smoke started curling from the engine.

Jessup tried to turn the plane westward, apparently to return to the airfield, witnesses said.

Instead, the plane went into a steep bank and plunged into a wildlife preserve adjacent to John Prince Park on the north side of the airport.

``At first I thought he was just trying to turn back around. Then he seemed to lose altitude,`` said Michael Budney, 14, a Civil Air Patrol cadet.

``When it crashed, I just heard a low thud,`` he said.

Jessup had worked as a mechanic for Florida Airmotive Inc. at Lantana Airport since 1976.

Jessup, who was single, had been an aircraft mechanic since 1963, according to company records. He was a resident of Tropical Trailer Park off U.S. 1.

``He was a very fine, very bright young man. And a good mechanic,`` said Alice Gassaway, co-owner of Florida Airmotive.

Andrew Alston, an investigator with the National Transportation and Safety Board, said the cause of the crash would not be determined for between 30 and 60 days.

Salvage crews had to wade several hundred yards through knee-deep mud and water to reach the snub-nosed airplane. The craft rested on its side, partially submerged in muck near a stand of mangroves, officials said.

Jessup was dead at the scene, apparently of multiple injuries, officials said.

His body could not be removed from the plane until early afternoon. Palm Beach County Sheriff`s Office helicopters and a bulldozer were used to reach the aircraft.

Those at the scene said they had to shatter the plane`s cockpit to recover Jessup`s body.

``It took us 15 minutes to work our way out there,`` said John Gud, 34, a pilot who helped pull Jessup from the wreckage.

``The right wing was off the plane, and part of the cockpit canopy was buried in muck,`` he said.

The craft, originally used as a military training plane, had been restored as a collector`s item and painted silver and blue with U.S. Air Force markings.

The plane is noted for being a solid, highly maneuverable craft, officials said.

Gud was standing on the runway, working on his plane when Jessup took off. He said Jessup immediately began having trouble with the plane.

``He used a lot more runway than it usually takes, and when he took off, it looked like he just forced the plane off the ground,`` he said.

Gud questioned Jessup`s apparent decision to turn the plane back toward the airport in what seemed to be a futile attempt to land the troubled craft.

``Had he gone straight ahead, he might have been able to land it in John Prince Park,`` Gud said.

``Mistakes are made, but they`re unforgiving in an airplane,`` he said.